1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector for electrically Connecting together printed circuit boards or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a system including printed circuit boards, many extension boards or daughter boards are electrically connected to a mother board for a system extension purpose.
The electrical connector is mounted on the mother board and has an insulating housing in which a recess for receiving one edge of the daughter board.
When the daughter board is connected to the mother board, the edge of the daughter boards is inserted slantwise with respect to the surface of the mother board in the recess of the housing. Then, the daughter board is rotated to take a normal posture with respect to the surface of the mother board. The edge of the daughter board taking the vertical posture is held between the contacts in the recess by their spring forces so as to be electrically connected to the contacts.
A pair of latch members are integrally formed on both ends of the housing in order to fixedly set the daughter board in the vertical posture. Each latch member is extended outwardly of the housing so as to be flexed by means of the daughter board during the rotational movement of the daughter board. When the daughter board takes the vertical posture, the latch members return to the initial state such that the daughter board is held at its lateral edges. At the same time, the surfaces of the daughter board are held by latch members and the daughter board is fixed to take the vertical posture. In order to take the fixed daughter board out of the connector device, the paired latch members are flexed outwardly.
Since, however, the latch members as well as the housing is made of plastics, it is likely to be cracked, chipped or broken, leading to insufficient durability. When the attachment and detachment of the daughter board integrally connected to the housing are repeated many times, the latch members are apt to be bent beyond the elastic deforming limit and fatigue occurs in the bending portions of the latch members, gradually hindering the latch members from returning to the initial state. This lowers the holding forces of the daughter boards and makes it difficult to connect the daughter boards to the connecting terminals. It occurs sometimes that the latch members are broken or cut off.